PROJECT SUMMARY The Administrative Core (AC) provides the leadership and administration of the Louisiana Biomedical Research Network (LBRN). The Program Director/Principle Investigator (PD/PI) in close association with the Program Coordinator (PC) will lead the AC. A Steering Committee (SC) composed of Vice Presidents for Research or their equivalent from the PUIs, together with the two core directors and three other eminent scientists from our mentoring institutions will assist the PI and PC with the tasks and decisions necessary to maintain and grow the LBRN. An External Advisory Committee (EAC) of five eminently qualified scientists will meet twice a year to evaluate all of the component parts of the LBRN and provide the PI with a detailed critique. The evaluation will be discussed with and acted upon by the SC, PI, and PC. The AC has many functions and responsibilities, which include communicating with NIH program staff, fiscal responsibility for the LBRN, the overall management and assessment of the Developmental Research Project Program and undergraduate research opportunities, oversight of the cores and their interactions, selection of Developmental Research Projects and the evaluation of PI progress. The AC will also monitor the milestones and benchmarks set for the program. It will organize regular discussions of the policies and procedures of the program in such a manner as to allow for dynamic change when necessary. The evaluation and assessment of the LBRN will be conducted quarterly using a Logic Model developed specifically for this purpose. The results will be evaluated by the PI, PC, and the SC. The EAC will be provided with a summative assessment of these results for their visits. Additional evaluations will be provide three times during the five-year course of the program by an external evaluation team organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science?s Research Competitiveness Program. The results of these evaluations will be shared and discussed by the SC and EAC for the development of appropriate responses.